Topology podcasts

Mathematician Maggie Miller of the University of Texas at Austin joins Janna Levin and Steven Strogatz to explore knots, surfaces and four-dimensional topology. They discuss why loops can untangle in four spatial dimensions while two-dimensional surfaces can remain knotted, how three-dimensional snapshots help visualize 4D spaces, and Miller and collaborators’ resolution of a knotted-surface question posed by Charles Livingston in 1982. The conversation also connects visual techniques from art with mathematical reasoning.

Hosted by Janna Levin, Steven Strogatz

Carina Curto explains applications of topology to neural recordings and discusses mathematical models of recurrent networks.

Steven Strogatz talks with mathematicians Colin Adams and Lisa Piccirillo about knot theory and why it matters across mathematics and science. They explore how mathematicians distinguish knots, connections with the geometry of three-dimensional and higher-dimensional spaces, and applications involving DNA, materials and theoretical physics.

Hosted by Steven Strogatz